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Dean:Union Pacific 844 Pulls a Freight Train Out of Denver,

TGP

TGP

Member
Didn't know if you saw this, I meant to post it last month
And forgot about it.

After the Pedestrian was killed in Denver last July, UP 1941 took the passenger cars back to Cheyenne.
After the investigators later turned 844 loose, it headed back.

The crew was told don't make the trip for nothing.
So Select cars were assembled.
Guess there's money in Ethanol :^)

Been more that 20 years since 844 pulled a revenue load.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g3-q2lhQas

Tom
 
Sent shivers down my spine. Grandfather started out as a porter for the C&O and worked his way up to station master.
 
Fascinating, Tom. Thanks for posting.

844 can now claim the added title of road switcher.

Dean
 
Can't remember with certainty but I believe 78-80 inches.

844 is capable of speeds well above 100 MPH.

Dean
 
Specifications


Configuration:

?

• Whyte
4-8-4

• UIC
2?D2? h2

Gauge
4 ft 8 1?2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

Driver dia.
80 in (2,032 mm)

Wheelbase
Loco & tender: 98 ft 5 in (30.00 m)

Adhesive weight
266,490 lb (120,878 kg; 121 t)

Loco weight
490,700 lb (222,578 kg; 223 t)

Tender weight
421,550 lb (191,212 kg; 191 t)

Total weight
912,250 lb (413,790 kg; 414 t)

Fuel type
No. 5 fuel oil, originally coal

Fuel capacity
6,200 US gal (23,000 l; 5,200 imp gal)

Water cap
23,500 US gal (89,000 l; 19,600 imp gal)

Firebox:
• Firegrate area
100 sq ft (9.3 m2) (grate removed in 1945)

Boiler
86 ?3?16 in (2189.2 mm) diameter

Boiler pressure
300 lbf/in2 (2.07 MPa)

Heating surface
4,224 sq ft (392.4 m2)

• Tubes
2,204 sq ft (204.8 m2)

• Flues
1,578 sq ft (146.6 m2)

• Firebox
442 sq ft (41.1 m2)

Superheater:

?

• Heating area
1,400 sq ft (130 m2)

Cylinders
Two

Cylinder size
25 in × 32 in (635 mm × 813 mm)



[hide]Performance figures


Maximum speed
120 mph (190 km/h)

Power output
4,500 hp (3,400 kW)

Tractive effort
63,800 lbf (283.8 kN)

Factor of adh.
4.18
 
So the only way to see objects in front of the engine is to hang your head as far out the window as possible? There is always 2 people operating a steam engine , maybe one to look from the right side and the other to look ahead from the left side for objects in front of the engine. That is a long way from behind the engine to the front of the train. Is there a camera in the operator cab?
 
So is that a conventional steam engine that is burning diesel for fuel, tank cars right behind the engine or some fancy self feeding coal tender?
 
(quoted from post at 16:00:31 03/07/19) So is that a conventional steam engine that is burning diesel for fuel, tank cars right behind the engine or some fancy self feeding coal tender?
Click to expand...

Jim,
Tender behind the locomotive is a converted coal stoker to hold
6200 gal of #5 fuel oil.
The second yellow tender is a converted coal tender to hold
20,000 gallons of water plus the 3,500 gallons in the locomotive.
Tom
 
The engineer sits on the right side and operates the locomotive.

The fireman sits on the left and manages fire and boiler.

Both are highly skilled trades.

Dean
 
(quoted from post at 15:57:29 03/07/19) So the only way to see objects in front of the engine is to hang your head as far out the window as possible? There is always 2 people operating a steam engine , maybe one to look from the right side and the other to look ahead from the left side for objects in front of the engine. That is a long way from behind the engine to the front of the train. Is there a camera in the operator cab?
Click to expand...

No camera that I have seen.
Need to clarify for Jim .
That it is oil fuel fired Loco converted from coal.

The fireman rides the left seat handling the fuel valves and water boiler controls and aids in left side vision.

The Engineer sits in the right seat and handles the rest.
The conductor and brakeman, sits behind the fireman.
Tom
 
Those are some interesting weights.

Why or how can the tender be so heavy? It seems like intentionally added weight, can't just be the contents.

What would be the reasoning?

Do the tenders also serve as braking cars?
 
Now Dean come on., highly skilled, train just runs down the track , Tow Boat pilot no brakes, no track 10 times the load and river currents always changing, LOL Just kidding I am sure the Jet pane pilot thinks he is highly skilled also.. That was interesting I knew at the end they converted some to fuel oil. Big old engine for sure. Never knew that they took the brakeman and conductor from the caboose. Learn something ever day I guess.
 
That tender is carrying (if full) 195,000 lbs of water and 44,000 lbs of fuel. I assume those weights listed are max load weights. Tender does no more braking than any other car. Just takes that many groceries to feed the beast.
AaronSEIA
 
I have a book published by the Reading Lines in 1947 entitled Firing The Steam Locomotive. It's an instructional text for steam locomotive fireman.

Reading material for esoteric tastes.

Dean
 
Here's a Wiki link about an even more modern and more powerful 4-8-4, Norfolk & Western Class J, 611.

About 25 years ago, I took my Mother on an excursion from Union Central Terminal in Cincinnati, OH to Danville, KY and back powered unassisted by 611. That day remains one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Dean
N & W 611
 
Would really like to see the specifications, however they seem to be written in an oriental
language. Could you or someone please convert them? The machine was made in america?
 
1984, N.O. Worlds Fair, they ran the 4449 Daylight Train from Portland to N.O. with an excursion from Houston to Dallas & back to Huston. I really enjoyed the Dallas to Houston run, except the last hour into Houston, the track was so bad the speed was severely reduced. Part of the way we were on very well maintained coal train tracks & got up some real speed! The 4449 looks to be almost the same specs as the 844, just different builder and 3 years older.
 

I've a pretty good book on trains of all types...But have never figured out what the fairings along the sides...up at the front are for?..
 
Those fairings are smoke lifters, they help vent the exhaust up and out of the way. That way they don't have to add a tall smoke stack.
 
I had a great uncle who was a steam mechanic for the Great Northern in the Milwaukee roundhouse in Sioux City. When diesel locomotives came in he had trouble adapting. He was a true steam mechanic and couldn’t get used to diesel electric. He was getting toward retirement age after the last steam engine was retired so he took retirement. I can still hear him talking in his Danish accent about the day when he will collect his pension. I rode a switch engine sitting on the round table when I was a little kid in the mid-50’s but I don’t remember much about it.
 
I was lucky enough to see the train go thru
Greeley,Colorado last summer. I think that
they go to the rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming
every year. It was headed back to Denver before the accident happened.
 
I don't think the passenger cars are kept in Cheyenne when not in use. I think they might be kept in Omaha. Only
service cars for the locomotives are kept at Cheyenne. The Sherman hill, etc. The passenger cars are brought to
Cheyenne for the frontier days run to Denver. 844 hooks on to them there at Cheyenne. On other runs, especially
when further than Omaha and in that direction, passenger cars are picked up in route. That's when you see it
pulling freight. On its way to the passenger cars, and on it's way back home on the return after ditching the
passenger cars.
 
Just wanted to add that it doesn't seem like 844 goes out much. It was restricted last year to the fronteir days Denver run only, due to 4014 restoration. But even before that, for several years it didn't do much else besides the fronteir run. Of course it is only planned to pull passenger cars for that run.

And I also think Ed Dickens, head of steam operations, has a tendency to baby the 844. Not really in favor of assigning it to freight. I know he alone probly doesn't make that decision, but would have some influence on the higher ups. I also think he is a little hoggish about being the engineer himself. Dont seem to let other steam crew members sit in the engineers seat much. If you notice in most of the you tube videos recorded all over, they primarily show only him in the driver's seat.
 
There's 9 guys on the steam crew.
4014 has been the priority, they are still working on the schedule for moving 4014 and 844 to Ogden for the golden spike celebration in May.

The railroads would get insurance for excursions through Amtrak, but Amtrak has changed some company policies and their insurance is no longer available. The Denver-Cheyenne run is permanently cancelled as the Denver post is about bankrupt and can't afford it.

APL executives are big steam fans, and it's believed they may have a stacktrain pulled by 4014. They had 3985 pull one about 30 years ago.
 
In closing, Tom, I once again, thank you for posting this.

I live near Cincinnati, grew up on the B & O railroad just where the steam helper was stationed to push the westbound freights up out of the Ohio River valley, and am just old enough to remember main line steam past my parents farm.

From my Lionel days beneath the Christmas tree in the mid 1950s until now, I remain a steam fan.

This summer I plan to make an automobile trip west to Billings, MT where my son lives, then to Cheyenne to see the UP steam shops, the Mecca that I have not yet seen. Afterward, I will drive to Dallas to visit my brother in Grapevine, before driving onward to Houston to see the triple expansion steam engines in the only surviving dreadnought battleship, the USS Texas.

For those of you who do not know, it was not wind mills, solar panels, petroleum, or horses and mules that made this once great country great. Rather, it was coal and steam.

Dean
 
Thank you, Ja.

I will try to include this in my trip.

The high stepping K-4s and Hudsons powering the Hiawatha and other brass trains, regularly exceeded 100 MPH and remain classics.

Dean
 
Ya, the 3985 pulled one un-assisted along time ago. Right after it's coal to oil change over. I don't think they will let 4014 do it un-assisted in modern day. Seems I have heard that they changed requirements on breaking capability. Made requirements high enough they can't be achieved by a single locomotive.
 
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